In an effort to boost student involvement in Domestic Violence Awareness Month, members of the The Movement, part of the Women’s Center, painted the entire Free Expression Tunnel purple.
Andy Mitchell-Bridgeman , a junior in international studies, organized Monday’s event. A member of Kappa Delta, she recruited her sorority sisters to help with the daunting task of using nothing but rollers and paint brushes to paint the tunnel.
The Movement is a group of students that spread awareness of domestic violence throughout the year.
“It’s a group of male and female trained peers that work with rape, sexual assault survivors and generally aim to prevent interpersonal violence,” Mitchell-Bridgeman said.
Becoming part of The Movement is a fairly involved process.
“[The Movement] is a student group on campus. There is a three credit hour course that you have to take,” Mitchell-Bridgeman said.
Jenny Lomelino , a graduate student in English education, is also a part of The Movement. She was at the Free Expression Tunnel helping out, and, along with Mitchell-Bridgeman , was wearing a purple shirt to commemorate the month.
“Students are trained to facilitate workshops on sexual violence, relationship violence, stalking, cyber stalking and body image. We teach on campus,” Lomelino said.
Lomelino said The Movement gives a student voice to the issues, and is a good departure from having only faculty reach out to students regarding domestic violence issues.
“The Women’s Center is run by faculty,” Lomelino said. “I think the Women’s Center realizes the student voice can be powerful. They started this program so we can discuss with our peers as opposed to someone lecturing them. We have conversations about this kind of stuff. I think it’s very important for students to see people their age talking about these kinds of issues.”
Ava Britt, a junior in political science, is a Kappa Delta member and came out to support Mitchell-Bridgeman . She said she knows people who had been personally affected by domestic violence, though.
“You wouldn’t expect people to have been affected by domestic violence, but I do know people who have. It is close to my heart, and it’s close to them, too. There are people who know people [who have been affected], but they just don’t know. It’s just not something that people our age usually talk about,” Britt said.
Britt said making October awareness month is good for spreading the word.
“I feel like domestic violence is something that tends to get ignored. It has a month to itself, but it’s not something that we really talk about because it is taboo. I think it’s important to spread the word that it’s not just man-woman relationships — it’s all types of relationships. We need to make sure that other people are aware of it and that they know they can help stop it,” Britt said.
The event coincided with Kappa Delta’s philanthropy efforts, according to member and sophomore in textile technology Hilary Walker.
“We raise money for preventing child abuse in America. We always try to help our sisters out with community service whenever it’s taking place on campus,” Walker said. “Since we are women, it really means a lot to be there for each other. It seems like the right thing to do.”
According to the North Carolina Department of Administration, a total of 5,361 domestic violence cases were reported across the state. Of those, 845 were in Wake County, which topped the list on a by-county basis.
Mecklenburg County, home of Charlotte, had the second most reported cases with 582.
